DMC: Showtime
by Sin Oan
Summary: 10 years after the apocalypse, Patty fails to save the last of humanity from annihilation, and so elects to travel back in time and prevent Dante from dying. Sequel to Sweet Dreams.
1. The Legendary Dark Witch

Yup, I'm back. Even though I was determined not to write any more DMC stories, I changed my mind. I'm doing one final story, as a tribute to classic DMC. This is technically a sequel to my last two fics, Birthday Bash and Sweet Dreams. It will use elements from both of those, so you might want to read them first. Despite featuring Patty as the main character of sorts, this story will in fact be an all star cast, and will involve just about every major DMC character in the series. Anyway, here's the first chapter. Updates will be pretty random I'm afraid, as I have several other things I'm working on as well. This story probably won't contain any pairings, unless one surprises me later on, in which case I'll say so. So, err, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>DMC: Showtime<strong>

Act I Chapter 1

The Legendary Dark Witch

* * *

><p>Search: Armageddon Timeline<p>

searching ...

searching ...

search complete

Display Results

Dec 2012 - New Avernus Incident

Jan 2013 - Year of Hell / Beginning of the end / 875,000 dead / New Avernus destroyed

Feb 2013 - US Military fight back

Apr 2013 - US Military destroyed / Nuclear weaponry deployed against demonic invasion

May 2013 - US Government collapses / 90 Million dead

Jul 2013 - NATO launches strategic nuclear strike against North America to contain demons despite failure of US nuclear deployment / North America reduced to radioactive wasteland / 397 Million dead

Oct 2013 - North and South American continents overrun / Europe, Africa and Australia invaded / 1.7 Billion dead

Dec 2013 - World overrun / Global national collapse / 3.5 Billion dead

Jan 2014 - New World Order / Countless dead / Environmental damage irreparable

Feb 2014 - Mass human hunts begin

Apr 2016 - 3 of 5 remaining human outposts annihilated

Oct 2020 - Last survivors of humanity gather at Fortuna

Dec 2022 - 10th anniversary of New Avernus Incident / Nightmare Omega sighted en route to Fortuna / Human extinction imminent

December 31st 2022 - Present Day

* * *

><p><em>HERE LIES<em>

_DANTE_

_SON OF SPARDA_

_1975 - 2012_

_REQUIESCAT IN PACE_

The smooth black marble of the gravestone felt cool to the touch, despite the demonic nature of the graves inhabitant. A shadowy figure in a hooded black cloak knelt before it, resting one hand against the surface of the stone, head bowed in sadness. The Sparda sword protruded from the ground beside the grave.

"I'm sorry Dante," said the figure, a woman speaking in a low voice scarcely above a whisper. "I'm not strong enough to protect what's left of humanity on my own. I need to borrow your father's sword. It's our only chance. I promise to take good care of it."

There was no answer. How could there be? The dead seldom said much. The woman sighed and stood, taking a moment to glance around at the graveyard. It was the last graveyard in use anywhere in the world, as there were so many dead now that it would take the remaining humans several lifetimes to burry everyone. And even here only a choice few had been laid to rest, several of whom the woman in black knew personally.

Trish. Lady. Morrison. Nero. Her mother was buried here as well.

What was left of her, anyway.

"We have company," said a voice. It was an odd sort of voice; somewhat metallic, as if it was coming from an old fashioned radio speaker. It belonged to a floating book clad in a silvery metal, with a bright blue pendant fixed to the front cover.

The woman snorted. "They should show a little respect for the dead." She turned and found herself surrounded by demons. Ghastly hunched creatures with saliva dripping from their jaws and the light of the full moon gleaming from wickedly sharp claws. The talking book floated beside the woman's head and spun around several times, counting the demons in the process.

"Twenty."

"Twenty one," the woman corrected.

"Oh?"

There was a flicker of movement as she drew a pistol, aimed it directly up into the air and fired. The hush of the graveyard was momentarily shattered by the gunshot. An empty casing landed on the grass at her feet, followed seconds later by a winged demon. There was a large hole in what passed for its head, at least until the entire thing turned to ash.

"Ah," said the book, taking note of the one it had missed counting. The woman in black drew a second pistol and readied them. The guns had once belonged to Dante - his fabled Ebony & Ivory - but she had taken to using them since he could no longer do so himself.

"I was hoping I'd have the opportunity to warm up before the main event. This will give me a chance to try out Sparda. You're certain I can use it without mutating into a hideous blob? I quite like my figure as it is."

"The Ascension Ceremony you underwent will allow you to resonate with Sparda's demonic power," said the book as the demons began to close in on them, "As I already explained. Twice. Try to pay attention my girl."

"Just checking," said the woman, before opening fire. The demon that was perched on Dante's gravestone behind her toppled over from the gunshot she had unleashed over her shoulder. As if this shot signalled the start of a race, every demon in the area promptly exploded into action, leaping at the cloaked figure.

Who tossed her guns into the air and snapped her fingers.

Time slowed to a crawl.

The woman casually strolled over to the Sparda sword, while over a dozen demons continued to leap at her in extreme slow motion. Hesitating only briefly, she pulled the ancient devil blade from the ground and lifted it up over her head. A bolt of reddish black lightning struck the weapon, spread across the surface of it and then enveloped its new wielder in a crimson aura of light.

"Oooh, that tingles," she said. Giving the weapon a flourish to get a feel for it, she sauntered over to a suspended demon and sliced it in half. The two halves split and started to fall to the ground, albeit slowly. As a shower of demonic ichor spilled forth the woman moved out of the path of the red spray and pointed the tip of the Sparda at another demon. Now the legendary dark knight's fabled sword transformed into a spear, punching clean through the hideous creature's torso and emerging from its back.

Again the weapon transformed. With a demon still impaled upon its length, the point of the spear slid into a curved scythe, chopping the unfortunate beast into chunks. The cloaked lady swung the scythe around in several long sweeping arcs, catching one demon after another, piling the monsters together against the blade of the devil arm. The Sparda then reverted back to its original sword-like form, dicing the gathered demons in the process.

"You missed a few," said the book. True enough five demons remained, who were only just starting to realise that their intended victim was no longer standing in front of Dante's grave.

By now the air was thick with demon blood spraying outwards in slow motion. The woman leapt into the air, her cloak becoming drenched in the revolting shower of droplets. She landed upon a demon, which was itself already in mid-air. With a flick of Sparda she decapitated the creature, then lashed out with her foot, kicking the severed head into an adjacent demon. The floating book scoffed at this.

"Oh now _really_, that's just showing off."

The lady somersaulted off the headless demon's back, pierced another demon with Sparda's spear form and slammed the newly impaled beast into a second demon. She then retracted Sparda back into sword form, spun around and sliced them both in half as she descended, before tossing the sword into the air using the momentum of her spin.

Time returned to normal.

What happened next takes longer to explain than the time it took to actually occur, nevertheless this is what transpired; bodies hit the ground, the blood splattered cloak the woman was wearing was cast off and draped over the floating book, several dismembered demons crashed into Dante's grave, the woman landed upon their corpses, reached up, caught Ebony & Ivory as they fell, extended them and fired, blasting the final two remaining demons point-blank range in their so-called faces, holstered the pistols, reached up and caught the falling Sparda sword, and then finally struck a flamboyant pose.

After taking all of that in, one would have the chance to get a good look at the woman, who was now no longer concealed by a hooded cloak. She was in her early to mid-twenties, with long platinum blond hair and vivid blue eyes. She was wearing a knee-length black gothic dress with bell sleeves, and had knee-length black boots on over her white thigh-length socks. Ebony & Ivory were holstered in a black harness on her lower back, and a moment later the Sparda sword slid into place just above them.

"Do you _mind_?" the book protested crossly, still draped in her cloak. She reached across and tugged it off, before gesturing to indicate the graveyard around them.

"I did you a favour - I stopped that shiny cover of yours from getting splattered with icky demon blood. Quit complaining."

"Patty Lowell you are simply _impossible_!"

Patty rolled her eyes. "You know Allen, most people don't have put up with their long-dead ancestors nagging at them from beyond the grave. But then most people don't have a sorcerer for an ancestor who magically bound their spirit to a grimoire. Way to buck the trend."

"If it weren't for my knowledge and expertise on demons and magic, you would be in one of these graves yourself young lady!"

"I still might," quipped Patty. She fell silent as that possibility hit home and her sense of humour deserted her.

Nightmare Omega was coming. The demons wanted to ring in the new year by adding humanity to the extinct list. Everyone who had ever fought Omega was dead, including Dante. What chance did she have, really? You could no more fight Omega than you could fight a supernova.

Nevertheless she had to try, or humanity would be no more.

"Come on gramps, let's get this show on the road," she said, before striding off. She paused for a moment to cast a look back at Dante's grave. The demon bodies heaped around it had all turned to ash now, which floated around the black marble stone ominously.

"Wish me luck, Dante. I'm going to need it."


	2. The Final Battle

**DMC: Showtime**

Act I Chapter 2

The Final Battle

* * *

><p>Ash rained down upon the castle town of Fortuna, coating the streets in a greasy grey layer, giving the place an overall ghostly appearance. The moon was out in full force tonight, as if eager to witness humanity's final end. From her perch atop the cathedral, Patty could spot the fixed gun emplacements, spotlights and tanks scattered about in defensive positions. Battle hardened survivors preparing themselves for the oncoming storm.<p>

The first indication that the end was near came when they spotted a faint, sickly green glow on the horizon. Hefting a night vision scope, Patty sighted Nightmare Omega for the second time in her life. The first had been ten years ago when it had awoken and destroyed New Avernus. It was just as she remembered it; a flying hulking black behemoth of twisted organic armour, wreathed in currents of green demonic energy and outlined with countless writhing tentacles, each over a mile long. The thing was easily the size of Fortuna itself, and could unleash blasts of energy that put one in mind of the movie Independence Day.

Nightmare Omega was a doomsday weapon, plain and simple. So horrifically powerful and destructive that until ten years ago the demons had never even contemplated using it. It had lain dormant deep underground, like a missile in a silo. And then ... things had happened and someone pushed the button that launched this particularly grotesque missile. In doing so they had effectively brought an end to all life on earth. Nightmare Omega fulfilled its purpose superbly, and tonight it looked set to finish what it had started a decade ago. Although the truth was humanity had been all but defeated after the first year. The nine years that followed were pretty much just wiping out the stragglers. Stamping down on the cockroaches.

Pest control. Because that's all humans were now.

"Do we have any sort of plan?" Allen asked, hovering beside Patty as ever. She swallowed, her usual bravado running dry in the face of a monster that had shrugged off nuclear bombs like they were nothing.

"I thought I might hit it until it dies."

"Oh, what a marvellous idea!" Allen snapped sarcastically, "Button bash it until its health bar runs out. Capital."

"Allen, I'm open to suggestions."

"Run away?"

Patty lowered the scope and glared at the floating grimoire, which somehow managed to appear sheepish despite being a book devoid of facial features. Before he could offer a more constructive suggestion they both heard gunfire erupt from the streets below, screams of despair drifting up to them. Turning, Patty gazed with wide eyed horror and astonishment at the sight that presented itself at that moment.

The weapon batteries and tanks were all opening fire on something, the night sky lighting up with tracer fire and the flare of rockets being launched. Patty gaped at the thing as her mind tried to pretend that what she was seeing was not real.

"Is that ... is that?"

Allen couldn't nod because he didn't have a head, but he tilted forwards briefly as if to signify the same gesture. "I'm afraid so."

Mundus. The freaking King of Hell himself was stomping through the streets of Fortuna, ignoring the human weapons fire as if it were no more than a mildly inconvenient shower of rain. A Comanche attack helicopter buzzed around his head, firing wildly at the devil prince, who reached out and enveloped it with one of his gigantic statuesque hands. The pilot screamed as the chopper was crushed, exploding into a ball of fire that Mundus dropped upon a group of humans below. A tank was squashed under a massive foot, a building flattened by a sweep of his mighty arms. An AA gun emplacement exploded as it was struck by a string of searing fireballs Mundus unleashed, and Patty had to shield her eyes from the glare as a dazzling white beam of light gouged through Fortuna like a laser cannon.

"That does it," Patty snarled, reaching over her shoulder to draw Sparda, "I may not know how to stop Omega, but I sure as hell have the one weapon suited to kicking this creep's stony ass."

She ran to the edge of the cathedral roof and leapt. As the moonlit street rushed up to greet her she became enveloped in an explosion of crimson energy that transformed her appearance. Since undergoing the Ascension Ceremony, Patty Lowell was human no more. Now she was a demon through and through. Her skin turned uniformly black, her platinum blond hair glowed a radiant golden white and a pair of black feathered wings erupted from her back. Bolts of black and red lightning arcing across her body, Patty beat her wings and soared into the sky.

The fifty-foot monstrosity that was Mundus towered above the city of Fortuna, brimming with power. Not for nothing was he the ruler of the Underworld. He effortlessly caught a missile between his fingertips, lifting it up to regard with his three glowing red eyes as the booster continued to burn. Finally he released his hold on it and it shot into his face, exploding.

This had no effect upon him whatsoever.

The supercharged fireball Patty launched against the back of his head did, however, catch his attention.

"HEY DICKHEAD! LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TRASH TALKING YOU!" Patty screamed, her voice echoing oddly with demonic chords. Mundus turned slowly and ponderously to face her, his own wings creating a shower of angelic white feathers. He laughed as he recognised her.

"Lowell. Still alive."

"And kicking!" Patty slashed at the air with the Sparda sword, which seemed to grow to ten times its normal size momentarily, slicing Mundus across the chest. The King of Hell merely chuckled and raised a hand to gesture at her.

"Why fight me? You are human no longer. Join me in crushing these human scum, just as your father did."

Patty's demonic face screwed up with anger at the mention of her father. "Shut up you bastard! I am _nothing_ like my father!"

"Is that so? Yet you have given up your humanity for the sake of power, just as he did."

Again Patty slashed at him with Sparda, the blow driven by rage. "I did it so I could wield this! So I could fight _you_!"

The humans occupying defensive positions throughout Fortuna ceased their attacks, realising that their weapons were useless against Mundus. They opted to use the distraction Patty had created to flee to safety, though given that Omega was still on its way there really wasn't anywhere that could realistically be called 'safe'. Mundus meanwhile laughed mockingly at her futile efforts.

"So sad. It breaks his heart to see you side with humanity. He wants his darling daughter by his side, where she belongs."

Patty screamed and charged up another fireball, which she hurled at Mundus' leering face. The devil king's wings folded across, absorbing the attack and releasing a cloud of glowing white feathers. Again he laughed as he unfurled his wings once more.

"He should have thought about that before he murdered my mother!" Patty howled, a glowing nimbus of crimson rage burning the very air about her. "Before he tried to _rape _me! I'll kill him! Just as soon as I'm through killing _you_!"

With that she was done talking, and began the fight in earnest. The air rippled with dark energy as Patty spawned half a dozen shadow clones of herself, each swooping about Mundus in a different direction as they attacked. They hacked away at his Greek statue like form while Patty herself hovered directly above Mundus and rained fireballs down upon his head.

Mundus for his part ignored all of this, the attacks doing little more than stinging him despite the immense power behind them. He made a sweeping gesture with his hands, causing many of the buildings around him to tear loose from the ground and float up into the air. With another gesture he started them spinning around and around as if they were caught in a tornado, several of Patty's shadow clones colliding with the flying debris and exploding. Mundus then glanced up and sent a scorching white beam of light directly at her, which she just barely avoided. The beam nevertheless caught the tip of her left wing and sent her spiralling down.

Down and into the whirling cyclone of stone and half-torn apart buildings, all moving with enough speed to flatten her into a comical 2D pancake. That is until she snapped her fingers, slowing the passage of time to a crawl. Although this time distortion had no effect on Mundus, it did reduce the speed of the flying debris to a virtual standstill.

Patty twisted in mid fall and sprang at a chunk of pavement. As she landed on it she jumped to a flying lamppost, swung off that and landed atop of a bus. Mundus fired three red bolts of energy at her. Her three remaining shadow clones each took the blasts in her place, exploding as they were struck. In response, Patty hurled the Sparda in scythe form at the devil king, the weapon spinning like a lethal boomerang.

As it carved into his thick hide, Patty traced a circular portal in the air, reached through and yanked out Pandora. She then morphed the demonic suitcase into form 595: Argument, locked onto Mundus and fired. A salvo of missiles charged with her own demonic energy slammed into him, eliciting a grunt of pain from him. As Pandora reverted to its default shape, Patty reached out and caught the Sparda sword just as it returned to her waiting grasp.

"Get ready for a world of hurt!" she snarled, still enraged by his taunting words. She pulled back Pandora, morphing it into form 422: Grief, a bladed discus like projectile. Gripping the Sparda sword tight in her other hand, Patty hurled Grief at Mundus and then leapt _onto_ the spinning weapon. It carried her directly towards the dark prince, spinning her round and round, and as she spun she held Sparda out. The demon blade grew to an enormous degree once more and sliced into Mundus over and over as Patty was rotated by Pandora's Grief form. When it struck Mundus in the chest, Patty backflipped away from it and then smacked it right back at him as it rebounded. She did this five times, Mundus growling in protest at the relentless attacks.

Growing increasingly irritated by this, Mundus reached out and grabbed Patty. She flailed about as he tried to squeeze the life from her, stabbing Sparda repeatedly into the hand that gripped her tight. Finally Pandora returned to her, and she brandished it in form 124: Hatred, a giant triple bazooka. She fired this directly into his face, charging the rockets with as much power as she could muster. Mundus reeled from the impact and released her, clutching his hands to his face in pain.

Now it was Mundus who was enraged. Furious at being injured, he lashed out at her with a searing blast of light. It caught Patty full in the chest and slammed her into one of the floating buildings, propelling her through four sets of walls before she exited through the back of the structure. She landed on a chunk of flying pavement a short distance below, dazed by the attack.

"Patty! Look!" exclaimed Allen, who appeared overhead. Groaning, Patty pushed herself up and prized her eyes open, wincing as every part of her body ached profusely.

Nightmare Omega loomed above Fortuna.

"Crap."

"Crap indeed! It's preparing to fire!"

She swayed unsteadily, the wind knocked from her by that last blow. The horrible writhing black mass of the demons ultimate weapon blotted out the sky, the arcs of green energy gathering at a single point as Omega charged its main attack. When it fired, Fortuna and everyone within would be incinerated. And there wasn't a damn thing she could do to stop it.

For all the power she now commanded, she was utterly powerless to help.

"Too late, Lowell." Mundus' mocking laughter rang in her ears, the devil king flying away from her with his arms folded in a triumphant gesture. Patty watched helplessly as he drifted through a portal and vanished.

"Allen, what do I do? How do I stop it?"

The book somehow managed to convey a sense of palpable fear as it rapidly shifted from one rotation to another. "I ... I haven't the faintest idea. I'm sorry my dear, I just ... don't know."

For the past ten years Patty had come to depend upon her deceased ancestor. He had kept her alive, helped her come to terms with the state of the world. He kept her company when she was otherwise alone and offered advice whenever she needed it. He knew everything there was to know about magic and demons. If she was ever in any doubt she could always turn to him for answers.

Except now, for he had none. And neither did she.

Patty Lowell reverted back to her human form and watched as a bolt of crackling green energy shot forth from Nightmare Omega and descended towards the city of Fortuna. Last bastion of humanity, last ray of hope in an otherwise bleak and empty world. In about three seconds the last humans left alive would be snuffed out of existence in an earth shattering explosion, wiped forever from the face of the planet.

She almost gave up then. Despair overwhelmed her. It would be so easy to just stand there and wait for the end to come, to let death take her and put a stop to all this misery. Only a tiny rebellious light deep within her prompted her to act, to take the only option left to her in that instant.

In a flash of crimson light Patty and Allen Lowell vanished, teleporting away from Fortuna just moments before the city was engulfed in a fireball that burned the air and lit up the sky for miles around.

* * *

><p>Patty sank to her knees, her mouth hanging open and tears streaming down her cheeks as she gazed at the mushroom cloud in the distance.<p>

That was it. The End. No more humans. She didn't even count; she was a demon now. And that was all there was left - demons. Demons inherited the earth. But humanity? Gone. Forever. Wiped out. Exterminated.

For the next few hours she lay on her back and stared at nothing. Allen meandered about, opting to keep silent for a change. There was nothing to say after that. They had failed to save the last vestiges of humanity, and now there was nothing left to fight for. Nothing left to protect. Things really couldn't get much worse, and if they somehow did, Patty was past the point of actually caring.

After a long while she withdrew something from her dress and held it up. It was Dante's old double-headed coin. She had kept a hold of it, and up until now it had always brought her good luck. It was a nice memento as well. Something to remember him by.

As if she could ever forget him.

And then it happened. As she lay back and stared blankly at the coin, something sparked inside of her mind. A thought. An idea. Could she do it? Would that work? She'd done it before. Once. A long time ago. Was it worth trying? Why not? Anything was worth trying at this point. She really had nothing left to lose.

"Allen ... did I ever tell you about my thirteenth birthday?"


	3. Ghosts of Christmas Past

Just to make something clear, pretty much the rest of the story takes place in the city in which Dante lives (the one where his DMC office is). Since the franchise never gave us a name for that city, and because that makes it difficult to write about, I opted to give the city a name myself - New Avernus.

* * *

><p><strong>DMC: Showtime<strong>

Act I Chapter 3

Ghosts of Christmas Past

* * *

><p>December 25th 2012<p>

"Renovations continue within the city centre following the year-long effort by the Gaia Vivendi corporation to restore the ruins of the Temen-ni-gru site. This historic location was unearthed following the massive earthquake that struck the city back in 1994, and has since been a hive of activity for historians and archaeologists. A spokesman for Gaia Vivendi had this to say ..."

"Temen-ni-gru is an historical marvel that lay undiscovered beneath New Avernus ever since the city was founded. Scientific analysis and dating has estimated the structure to be as much as two thousand years old, yet if you spend even five minutes inside the underground tower you can see that it contains technology far in advance of what was known to exist at that point in time. Clearly we have something of immense significance here, and I would not be surprised if the Temen-ni-gru becomes the eighth wonder of the ancient world."

Lady scowled as the screen flickered, the channel changing from the local news to something else altogether.

"Hey, I was watching that," she protested, turning to find that Dante had located the remote control.

"Gimme a break; it's _Christmas_. No one watches the news on Christmas. Besides, my favourite TV show is about to start."

The Devil May Cry office was currently host to Dante's Christmas party, and was decorated in a suitably festive fashion to accommodate the seasonal celebration. Also, Dante now had an ultra modern hi-def television set with surround sound and every extra imaginable. This was Patty Lowell's Christmas present to him. Given that the girl had also cleared all of Dante's debts following the whole Morpheus incident, she was very much in his good books these days. Lady neglected to tell him that Patty's generosity was at least in part out of guilt for taking advantage of him during said incident.

"Since when do you have a favourite TV show?" Lady enquired, genuinely surprised, "You usually couldn't care less about what's on the tube."

"Oh! It's starting! Yay!" Patty elbowed her way past Lady and bounced onto the (new) sofa to sit beside Dante, eager to catch the start of his favourite show as well it seemed. Puzzled by this, Lady shot a look over to Trish, who was playing pool with Morrison.

"Don't ask," said Trish, making her shot.

Curiosity piqued, Lady leaned on the back of the sofa and waited to see what they were watching. At the moment it was just adverts, so she decided to bring up the news item to pass the time.

"Dante, aren't you even a _little_ worried about the stuff they're doing with the Temen-ni-gru? We both know what that place is, what it can do."

Dante shrugged, not taking his eyes off the new TV set. "That place is history. Can't do jack without my amulet and our blood. Quit worrying about it."

Lady sighed. If only it were that simple. "Humans are very resourceful you know. I wouldn't put it past this Gaia Vivendi group to pull the tower apart and figure out what makes it tick."

Dante groaned and slid his hand across his face in frustration. "Give it a _rest_ Lady. The world's not going to end tomorrow, trust me. Go have some cake."

"Oh! Oh!" Patty bounced in her seat excitedly as the adverts finished and their show began. Lady stared at the screen, wondering for a moment if her sanity had quietly snuck out of her mind without her noticing. She gawped for several long seconds.

"You _watch_ this?"

"Yeah. Best damn show ever."

"Seriously? Patty I get, but _you_?"

"Sssshhh!"

Lady didn't know what to say. There were just some mysteries in life beyond her comprehension.

Dante watching My Little Pony was one of them.

"Rainbow Dash is the best pony," said Dante in all seriousness. Patty thrust her hand into the air.

"Team Pinkie Pie!"

Lady was about to comment further when her phone beeped. Shaking her head in exasperation instead, she turned away and pulled the little black rectangle out. The screen informed her that she had one message from Nina Lowell, Patty's mother, who was not at the party because ... actually, Lady didn't know why she wasn't here. She couldn't be working on Christmas Day, could she? Either way Lady opened the message up, only to find that it was blank. No text. It did have an attachment however.

"Look! There! Behind the giant apricot that Applejack is dancing on - it's Derpy!" exclaimed Patty.

"Oooh, good catch, I missed that," said Dante.

Frowning, all thought of Dante and My Little Pony gone from her mind, Lady peered at her phone as the contents of the attachment unpacked. It was a collection of images, snapshots taken by Nina's own phone. Lady opened the first. It was a picture of Gaia Vivendi employees working on the Temen-ni-gru restoration. She recognised the architecture from her own trip through the demonic tower years ago. Not a pleasant experience.

Scrolling from one picture to the next, Lady saw that they were all much the same. Men and women in white body suits and masks painstakingly working on the tower, recording the design and taking notes. Nothing overly alarming.

And then one picture turned her cold, sending a shiver down her spine.

It was an area of the Temen-ni-gru she had never seen before; a massive circular seal bearing an intricate design, dominated by the Greek symbol omega. Lady's heart raced faster as she scrolled to the next picture. Now the seal was opening, rotating like the iris of a camera lens. The next picture showed heavily armed men descending through the opening.

Apparently the adverts had come on again, because Dante and Patty were chatting once more. Events in the episode they were watching brought up the subject of Father Christmas, to which Patty scoffed.

"Relax Dante, I know Santa isn't real. I'm a big girl now."

"How do you know?"

"Everyone at school knows. It's like Fletcher Moon says; Santa is usually your dad dressed up in a costume, with a pillow stuffed up his jumper and a ridiculous false beard."

"Huh. News to me."

"Didn't your dad ever dress up as Santa at Christmas time?"

Dante laughed at the notion. "Yeah, right. My old man? He _hated_ Christmas. My mom had to nag him like crazy just to let us celebrate it at all."

Patty was surprised by that. "Why?"

In the process of setting up a new pool game against Morrison, Trish surprisingly spoke up and answered the question for him. "Because," she said, "Mundus was born on Christmas day."

"Mundus?"

"That's right," said Dante, shaking his head with a smirk at the whole thing, "The King of Hell himself was born on Xmas. How's that for irony?"

Patty was astonished, and rubbed at the side of her head upon learning this. "Wow. They sure don't teach you that at school."

"Not widely known," said Trish, chalking her cue stick.

"So did your dad ever dress up as Santa, Trish?"

Trish paused as she was about to break, a mirthless smile showing on her face. "Don't have a father. Mundus made me, remember? Though I suppose he might be slightly more cheerful at Christmas given it's his birthday. Not that demons really celebrate their birthdays all that much ..."

"Morrison?"

He just laughed and waved his hand. "Pass."

"Lady?"

"Hmm?"

Lady was only half listening to all of this, as she continued to cycle through the images, each more disturbing than the last. Many were so dark that she could barely make anything out, yet somehow that made things worse. Patty and everyone else remained oblivious to her uneasiness.

"What about your father?" Patty pressed, kneeling upright on the sofa now as she fixed her wide blue eyes on Lady.

"I shot him in the face," said Lady distractedly, shocking her. Before any of them could comment on her blunt response there was a knock at the door.

"If it's Jacob Marley tell him to buzz off," said Dante.

When Morrison answered the door it turned out to be a police officer, who flashed his badge and enquired if there was a Patty Lowell present. She nervously approached the officer and asked what he wanted. It was painfully obvious from his expression and body language that he was the reluctant bearer of bad news. No cop enjoys fulfilling that particular duty, especially not on Christmas day of all days, and _especially_ not to young girls like Patty.

"Miss Lowell I regret to inform you that your mother, Nina Lowell, took her own life earlier this afternoon ..."


	4. Sending a Message

**DMC: Showtime**

Act I Chapter 4

Sending a Message

* * *

><p>TEMEN-NI-GRU EXCAVATION SITE<p>

**WARNING!**

TRESSPASSERS WILL BE SHOT

Nero glanced at the sign from the top of his motorcycle and wondered briefly how they had managed to make that legal. It was an archaeological site, not Area 51. Nevertheless somehow Gaia Vivendi had managed to take control of the location, post their own private security goons, _and_ authorise the use of lethal force against intruders. They certainly had clout, he had to give them that.

Nice toys too, he noted as one of the guards approached him from the security booth. The guy could easily have passed for a PMC mercenary in that gear.

"Sir, can I have your identification please?"

"Sure thing." Nero reached into his overcoat and withdrew a slim plastic rectangle, which he handed to the guard.

"Wait here."

"You got it."

As soon as the goon had his back to Nero, he pulled out his cell phone and opened up one of the custom menus. Several seconds later the guard inserted his fake ID card into the computer at the security booth, which promptly ran a check to see if the identification was valid. It wasn't, but that was nothing to worry about, because the card contained a trojan programme that was able to access the security mainframe the second they scanned the data on it.

What happened next was pure cyber magic. The trojan activated the computer's wi-fi and established a connection with Nero's cell phone, enabling him to remotely access all local camera feeds and sensors. This sounded complicated, but all Nero had to do then was press a single button. Which he did.

"I'm sorry sir, this isn't valid, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said the guard upon his return, handing Nero the fake ID card.

"Ah damn, really?" He tucked the card away and endeavoured to seem annoyed. "That blows. I guess there's nothing for it; I'm just gonna have to beat the crap out of you and then drive in anyway."

The guard frowned, momentarily uncertain if he had heard correctly. He quickly learned that he had when Nero's fist connected with his face and floored him.

There were two guards left. One standing in front of that metal barrier directly ahead, and a second sitting in the security booth. To their credit they both reacted better than the first guard. The one in the booth hit the alarm button. Sadly this did nothing, and he lost points for stupidly hitting the button again and again in the hope that this would rectify the problem. It didn't. Meanwhile the guard directly ahead raised his SMG and shouted a warning, instructing Nero to get off the bike and lie down on the ground.

Nero _did _get off the bike, but not right away. First he accelerated towards the guard, then he skidded the bike sideways, and then finally he leapt from the thing altogether. The momentum of the motorcycle carried it towards the man with the raised weapon and violently knocked his legs out from under him. He landed painfully on the ground and did not get up.

The second guard, the one in the booth, finally gave up trying to raise the alarm and now pulled a handgun from his holster. He just about managed to raise it when Nero's arm became wreathed in ethereal flames. A huge spectral hand appeared, smashed through the security booth window, grabbed the guard and yanked him out through said window. It then retracted, pulling the poor unfortunate directly into Nero's waiting fist.

The final guard crumpled and hit the ground, joining the other two in the land of nod.

Now normally if antics like this occurred, the entire display would have been observed via camera by a second security station inside the main building. The alarm would then have been raised. What the security guards inside saw however ... was nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least. The Order technicians had rigged up mock security footage and stored several video files on Nero's phone. Once his phone had tapped into the system, it began streaming the pre-recorded video in place of the actual live feed.

Instead of seeing carnage and mayhem, all they saw was routine guard patrols.

And it would be like that wherever Nero went. His phone would automatically transmit false data, masking his presence throughout the excavation site. Not just his, actually, for he was not alone. As he picked up his motorcycle, killed the engine and leaned it against a concrete support, half a dozen men in white hoods sprinted from places of concealment. Soldiers from the Order of the Sword.

"Got to hand it to him, Oremus really knows his stuff," Nero remarked, complementing the Order's new chief researcher and successor to Agnus. "You guys all set? Then lets get this party started ..."

* * *

><p>After Arkham's defeat at the hands of the Sparda brothers and his daughter Mary, the Temen-ni-gru descended back into the bowels of the earth, leaving a giant hole in its wake. Once the disaster relief effort and subsequent cleanup was done, the city checked out the hole and discovered the ancient tower. It took several years but eventually a large lift was built over the pit, and then a variety of buildings sprang up around the lift. The Temen-ni-gru became a curiosity, with historians and archaeologists the world over clamouring to get a look at it.<p>

That was until last year, anyway. Then Gaia Vivendi arrived on the scene, pulling strings and greasing palms. The company soon had complete control over the site and began sponsoring their own programme to study and restore the structure. Since they sank their own money and resources into the endeavour, nobody complained all that much.

Those that knew of Temen-ni-gru's true purpose however had no doubt that Gaia Vivendi's intentions were sinister in nature. That was why Benedict - the new Supreme General of the Holy Knights - had dispatched Nero. His job was to get in and pretty much trash whatever it was they were doing down there. Nice, easy orders that Nero was just peachy about carrying out.

Oremus had rigged up a way to bypass the security, giving Nero and his men a head start at getting in and doing what needed to be done before the shit really hit the fan. As such they were able to make it to the main lift with no more effort than a few beat up guards.

The descent was long. It felt like they were riding a lift down into hell itself. Just how deep was the tower? Oremus claimed it wasn't really that far down, but he wasn't the one who had to stand and watch the rows upon rows of amber lights flash passed, dwindling into the distance far above.

Just when Nero grew so impatient he was about to curse loudly, the lift stopped to the sound of various mechanical noises. He stepped off into the main staging area and let out a whistle.

This was technically the top of the Temen-ni-gru, though since it was now underground visitors would need to begin at the top and work their way down. The area immediately surrounding the tower summit had been dug out and the whole thing lay nestled amidst a series of criss-crossing walkways and metal supports. There was no one in sight. It was Christmas day after all; nobody except Vivendi's private security troops were about, and they were all back up on the surface.

Nero once again pulled out his phone, this time opening an app that Oremus had installed for him. It was a map of the Temen-ni-gru created by the archaeologists that had originally studied the structure, back before Vivendi took over running the show. 3D GUI, nice easy to use. Nero tapped at the touch phone and the diagram of the tower exploded into individual sections. As it did so a recording of Oremus himself began to play.

"Congratulations," it said, "You are now standing at the very top of Temen-ni-gru. This structure was built over two thousand years ago by disciples of a devil worshiping clan-"

"Shut up, I don't care!" Nero snapped irritably at the thing.

"-and was sealed away by the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, only to be reawakened once more in 1994 by his son Vergil and the demonologist Arkham. Incidentally, this is a pre-recorded message. I can't actually hear you, so telling me to shut up will not accomplish anything. You also cannot turn your phone off without setting off the alarms, so I'm afraid you are just going to have to pay attention to what I have to say. For once."

"I hate you."

"I'm sure you do. Now, if you look to your left you should find a flight of steps that lead down. On you go, Nero."

Nero scowled at the thing whilst his men exchanged smirks with one another. Reluctantly he lead the way, listening to Oremus's lecturing voice all the way. He silently resolved to kick the guy's ass when they got back. What a smartass.

Ten minutes later they were at the base of the tower, standing in a cavernous and somewhat creepy hall filled with stairs and clockwork gears. Nero craned his neck to try and see all the way up.

"This is known as 'The Chamber of Echoes'," the recording helpfully informed him, "Which serves as a sort of central access point for the tower. Since we do not know what Gaia Vivendi intends to do with the tower, your only course of action now is to search for information. I have marked several key areas on your map. Feel free to select one at your leisure to begin your search. This concludes your guided tour of the Temen-ni-gru. Have a nice day. Oh, and Merry Christmas. Ho ho ho."

Nero let out a sigh of relief, overjoyed that the recording had finally ended. He took a moment to get his bearings and then located the marked areas on the map, working out where they were in relation to where he currently was.

"Right, listen up - I want you, you and you to check out this location. The rest of you search this area, and that just leaves ... this one. I'll check that myself. Meet back here in twenty minutes. Okay?"

They all nodded in assent and prepared to depart, but froze when they suddenly found themselves covered in tiny red dots.

Laser sights.

"You, you and you stay right where you are," said a voice from somewhere above, "The rest of you remain where you are as well. And as for you Mr Nero ..." There was a laugh. "Why don't _you_ tell me what you think your chances are?"

Nero looked up. The stairs were now occupied by at least a dozen soldiers clad completely in black, sporting modern high-tech rifles that were trained expertly on him and his men. They had the high ground, the initiative and superior firepower. His chances? Not so good.

"Why don't you show yourself?" said Nero with remarkable confidence. "I want to get a good look at the guy whose head I'm about to rip off."

The speaker revealed himself with a smile and Nero almost sniggered at the sight of him. Young man, so pretty that he bordered on the feminine, with thick, styled blond hair and startling blue eyes. He stood out amongst the ninja-esque thugs at his side with his spotless white three-piece suit, white ascot, jewelled pendant and white gloves. He had to be some kind of executive.

"So nice to finally meet you at last," said the man in white. He hesitated and raised a hand to his mouth as if he'd said something wrong. "Oh dear me, that was rather cliché, wasn't it? Terribly sorry, I shall strive to be more original in the inevitable witty banter that is sure to follow."

Nero gave him the finger. Two, to be precise. "Two questions. One, who the hell are you? And two, what the hell do you want?"

The man ignored him for the moment, instead taking a moment to glance at his cell phone. "I _must _say Mr Nero, the app you used to circumvent our security system was a work of genius. And implanting it by having us scan a fake ID card containing the programme? Inspired. Simply inspired!" He gave a contented sigh. "I don't suppose this was your handiwork? No, of course not, silly me. You're obviously too much of a dumb grunt to think up something like this."

"Hey dickhead! I asked you a question!"

The man tucked away his phone and leaned forward, resting an arm against his knee as he regarded Nero with unconcealed disdain. "You asked two questions, in point of fact. Allow me to answer, even though you are in no position to be making any demands. I am Percival Lowell, Vice President of Gaia Vivendi and the most dashing gentleman to ever walk the face of the earth. As for what I want ... well that's really quite simple."

He gestured to his men, who opened fire. The Chamber of Echoes earned its name as it echoed with the sound of countless gunshots, bullets tearing through the Order soldiers and spraying blood everywhere. Nero himself took one, then five, then twenty shots to the chest, arms, legs and head. He sank to his knees, drenched in blood, as the bodies of his men lay heaped around him. Finally he toppled forwards and lay sprawled on the floor, all life gone from him.

Percy Lowell removed his phone once more and snapped a picture of the bodies, for no other reason than because it made him smile. He tucked the phone away again and then stepped back from the edge of the stairs, signalling his men to do the same.

"Any second now, I should say ..."

Nero's devil bringer hand twitched. An explosion of blue light engulfed him and in the blink of an eye he was standing once more, his eyes blood red, a demonic phantom hovering above him. The bullets in his body that had not passed clean through shot out of him and struck the surrounding walls and stairs. Percy edged back and peered down at him, seeming mildly impressed.

"Very well done sir, very showy. Of course it takes a lot of ... what's the word? _Juice_, to do something like that. Allow me to show you what happens when we strain all that lovely devil juice out of you."

He snapped his fingers, causing several hitherto concealed metal spheres to start spinning. The air seemed to ripple and distort, as if seen through a heat haze. Bolts of blue energy emerged from Nero's glowing body and shot towards the spheres like they were magnets, draining him of demonic power. The phantom aura flickered and then winked out, and a moment later Nero's eyes returned to normal. He dropped to his knees once more and cried out in pain as the strange devices yanked the last traces of energy from him.

"That should do nicely," said Percy, shutting the spheres off. "How do you feel? Empty? Hollow? That's to be expected. These delightful little toys are one of our latest products. Absorbs demonic energy, in particular the kind certain demons use to enter their trigger state. Leaves you high and dry."

Percy vanished, leaving behind a brief black vapour trail. He reappeared beside Nero and patted him on the head as if he were a dog.

"Useful for snapping demons out of their 'Hulk Rage', so to speak. Quite marvellous, if I do say so myself. And I do."

Nero glared at him and lashed out with his devil bringer, swinging the demon arm around to punch the smug Vivendi exec in the stomach. Percy once again vanished, causing the punch to pass through empty air. He appeared on Nero's opposite side now and continued to pat his head as if nothing had happened. After a few seconds he grabbed a handful of Nero's hair and painfully yanked his head back, regarding his face intently.

"My, but you _are_ a looker Mr Nero. Why, if you were ten years younger I might even have a little fun with you. Alas ..."

Nero pulled out his pistol, Blue Rose, and fired it point blank into Percy's chest. Or at least he tried to. One of Lowell's men shot the gun from his hand the instant before he pulled the trigger, causing his shot to go wide off the mark.

"Oh, what a nice _weapon_ you have there," remarked Percy. He made a gesture with his free hand and the Blue Rose floated off the ground and over to him. He grasped the pistol and regarded it, even as he continued to hold Nero by the hair. He then thrust the double barrels under Nero's chin and leaned close, wanting to make sure he had his full and undivided attention.

"Now then, you asked me what I want. Here is what I want; I want you to deliver a message to Benedict. I want you to tell him to come in person next time. Do you think you can remember that? Shall I write it down for you perhaps?"

Nero gnashed his teeth at the dandy businessman. "Go blow yourself dickhead."

"Hmm," said Percy Lowell.

He removed Blue Rose from under Nero's chin, pointed it between his legs instead and fired.

Nero screamed.

Without uttering another word, Percy kicked Nero onto his back, tossed Blue Rose onto his torso and then snapped his fingers. Nero vanished, leaving the same kind of vapour trail as when Percy teleported. Finally Lowell pulled out his phone and activated speed dial. It was a testament to who he was calling that he was able to get a signal so deep underground.

"The message has been delivered, sir ..."


End file.
